The Central Bank of Zimbabwe Orders Financial Institutions to Suspend All Crypto Dealings

Domestic financial institutions of Zimbabwe have been asked to suspend any sort of crypto-related dealings and terminate their association with crypto businesses, reports local media publication NewsDay.

The report further states that Norman Mataruka, director of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s (RBZ) director and registrar of banking institutions, issued a circular last Friday requesting all financial institutions to pull-off their services in 60 days and start liquidating all the current crypto-related accounts.

Financial institutions have been asked to “ensure that they do not use, trade, hold and/or transact in any way in virtual currencies.” This news applies to both – individual investors as well as crypto businesses.

Norman Mataruka explained the reason behind this move saying that the central bank has an “obligation to safeguard the integrity of payment systems”, and it cannot risk the traditional financial institutions by linking them with crypto-related businesses.

RBZ’s governor John Mangudya told and warned individual investors that those willing to trade in digital currencies shall do it at their own risks. He said: “Any person who buys, sells, or otherwise transacts in cryptocurrencies, whether online, or otherwise, does so at their own risk and will have no recourse to the Reserve Bank or to any regulatory authority in the country.”

Last year in November 2017, RBZ called Bitcoin payments to be illegal until the country develops a regulatory framework surrounding it.

Last month in April, India’s central bank – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a similar circular asking them to cut-off ties with the crypto exchange’s within a grace period of 90 days. The local crypto community of India has approached the Supreme Court for asking RBI to take back its decision.